Not Quite
by serious.effort
Summary: A chance encounter with Jiraiya when Naruto was seven leads to a very different route in Uzumaki Naruto's shinobi career. -Probably Abandoned. I've come to actually dislike Jiraiya's character.. well up for adoption?
1. Prologue

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**Not Quite**  
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**Prologue**: The Change  
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A young boy of seven, with bright yellow blond hair and determined azure eyes was practicing hand-seals furiously in a secluded forest glade. With all the expended chakra due to the practice, the boy was huffing with exhaustion, but anyone with eyes could see that he wouldn't rest until he succeeded in performing the jutsu. In fact, he would have continued on all night in vain if it wasn't for an elderly drunk man stumbling through the brush near the clearing.

Now Naruto had never had much luck with drunk folk, they either hung on you in a daze sprouting all sorts of nonsense, or became very violent and insulting. The violent sort of drunks, who he'd often encounter due to the location of his apartment (in the "shadier" side of Konoha), were one of the main drives for him to become a ninja. That and he really wanted to show all those people who glare at him and call him worthless that they were wrong. One of these days he'd be accepted as a valued member of the Konoha elite! Maybe even the Hokage.

To get back to the situation at hand, however, Naruto was sufficiently wary at the sight of the drunk, but when the elderly man collapsed on the ground he went back to his practice. A man who couldn't stand, couldn't hurt him, right? Well, it eased Naruto's mind, at least.

Ten attempts later Naruto was looking very frustrated and downtrodden. Why wasn't it working? He knew he wasn't a bad ninja, the Old man Hokage himself told him so! And he was doing the hand-seals exactly as his sensei taught him. He was so frustrated with his failure that he forgot the old drunk was even there, and that's precisely the reason he was scared out of his socks when he heard someone speak behind him. "You're doing it wrong."

Whirling around in alarm, not to mention jumping back a few steps in reflex, he noticed it was the old drunk from before! Suspicious, and feeling a tiny trickle of fear when noticing that the man was dressed as a ninja (with an odd looking hiat-tai), he didn't take the words with much heed, only as an insult to his skills. "How would you know? You're probably just trying to make me do it wrong! My sensei told me this is how it's done, he wouldn't lie to me." Well, in all truth, it was very likely the guy would lie to him. Most of the time his teacher sent him glares, and for him, receiving help on the subject manner was impossible. Actually, it was down right suspicious that after weeks of asking for help learning a jutsu the man suddenly showed him exactly how to do one, but he wasn't going to let this old drunk know that!

He didn't even want to admit it to himself. It was the reason he was trying to get the jutsu to work so badly, denial goes to great lengths to keep its hold, after all.

"Well, your teacher knows shit, because someone taught you how to do the monkey seal wrong." The man took another sip out of the alcohol bottle clutched in his left hand and laughed. "That or you are incompetent at following directions."

Naruto was hurt at the implications settling in, but would rather be angry than hurt, so lashing out at the old man who came all the way out here to belittle him was a prime directive. "Oh yeah! Then show me how it's supposed to be done! Do you think I'm just going to believe the words of any old geezer over the words of my sensei's? And I'm not incompetent! I'm doing it just like he said!" Actually, he would rather believe the words of a stranger over Kuze-sensei's words, but at least this way he could goad the man into showing him how to do 'bushin no jutsu' correctly. Even if it wasn't supposed to be taught until their graduation year of the academy, all of his other classmates already knew it from their parents or Kuze-sensei. It wasn't fair.

The old man snorted and answered, "Very well, brat, watch and learn." Naruto, while hiding his happiness at the fact the man was willing to help, watched with eager eyes nevertheless. The sealing process didn't look any different from what he did, but obviously the man was doing something right as two clones popped into existence next to him, both with the same spiky white hair and tattoos.

"Wow! Cool!" Despite having seen it many times by his classmates, none of them had ever made two copies! And he'd never get over the sheer coolness of jutsus in general. However, that didn't change the fact that the man used the same sealing process as he did to get these results. A sense of failure was creeping up on him, but he'd make sure that there wasn't another explanation before admitting defeat! "But you didn't use the monkey seal any different than I did!"

The man seemed to be expecting that answer and asked him to make the monkey seal again. Pointing at the smallest finger on the backside of his hand the old man explained, "See, right there, that finger should be tucked into the hand sequence like your other finger. They must mirror each other. Ha, that's it kid. Now try it out." The old man stepped back and motioned again for Naruto to proceed.

The young academy student, figuring he had nothing to lose, quickly started the short sealing sequence again. "Ram, monkey, ha!" Naruto was about to curse the man out for lying to him when he noticed the two copies of himself standing next to him! Two! That was more than anyone else in his class! In his distraction the clones were dispelled, but that didn't stop Naruto's joy. 'Maybe I can make even more!' He nodded in agreement with his thought and was about to try it when the old man interrupted him.

"Hey kid," The man was now frowning thoughtfully. "Did your sensei teach you the hand-seals one by one, or did he go through the process and have you imitate them?"

Naruto didn't see any harm in answering, especially after the help the man gave him. "Kuze-sensei had me try them from watching his movements, but he said I had the monkey seal wrong too. My ring finger was out of place, he said I was doing it right afterwards, though. Maybe he just missed it 'cause it's in the back and all." Naruto wasn't buying it, he knew for sure his sensei did that deliberately, but when he had implicated others before he'd received all the blame, not that many people bothered to ask before blaming him, that is.

He observed the man's frown deepen, and knew that the man didn't believe his sensei was innocent either, not completely anyway. In any case, it was getting late and he had to go to the academy tomorrow. He'd best thank the man and leave. "Hey mister! It's getting late... um, thanks for the help and all." Just as he was about to leave, and run back to his apartment the old man spoke again.

"Hey brat, what's your name?"

Hesitating slightly, as informing people of his name never seemed to end well, but he figured he owed the man that much. "Uzumaki Naruto."

The old man let out a thoughtful 'hm', and brushed off his clothing. "I'm Jiraiya, and it's Jiraiya-sensei to you, brat. Come here two days from now after your lessons and I'll train you to be a real shinobi." With that said, Jiraiya stumbled back the way he came.

Uzumaki Naruto was stunned, and was left staring at the place his new sensei was just standing until a huge grin overtook his features. Yelling out, "Yeah!" with a little jig in the air, he dashed off in the direction of his apartment. He'd sleep peacefully that night with dreams about all the cool jutsu he would learn, unaware of how this chance meeting would change his life.

-

Jiraiya let a smile creep onto his face upon hearing the boy's exclamation before a particularly nasty bruise on his head throbbed, distracting him. Quickly, he took another drink of sake, as it was the only thing that eased the pain of so many hits to the head; he sat down against a tree. While the girls here were beautiful, they sure hit hard when they catch him researching! It was partially the reason he would stay out of Konoha for the most part, women from other villages were rare to catch him (mostly from being unaware of the resident pervert, like most of Konoha) and even if they did, they didn't hit half as hard!

As it is, he'd have to work on his stealth technique a bit more now that he was staying in Konoha to train the boy. 'I can't believe they'd go so far to sabotage his whole ninja career like that. That's treason! But I can't call attention to it; the council will probably thank the man for coming up with the idea and encourage further attempts! Sarutobi-sensei can only do so much... No, the most I can do is counteract any damage and make that boy into something his father would be proud of. Besides, I need a new student to pass along my knowledge to.' Jiraiya frowned at that line of thought, but knew it was true nonetheless.

He would train the container of the Kyuubi the same way as the man who sealed the beast up. Jiraiya snorted in amusement and took another sip of sake. Somehow, it all seemed so very fitting.

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**End prologue**  
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Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

Notes: Yeah, it is short. It's the prologue, yeah? This is old work. I've had this posted up on ficwad since April of 06, and never posted more than two chapters, but hey, I have renewed interest into writing it- and I'll have a few hours of standstill boredom this summer, so I'll do some writing, yeah?. Everything might be a little rusty, but what I already had written was rusty too, so it might flow smoothly. P In any case, I hope a few of you enjoyed it, and feel free to dish out as much criticism/comments you wish. I'll put the next parts up once I finish another chapter, but a week at the latest. (or you could just look it up on ficwad. -shrug-)

- Rain


	2. The Apprenticeship

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**Not Quite**  
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**Chapter One**: _The Apprenticeship_  
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On the day of the set meeting Naruto came huffing and puffing into the clearing, definitely late. Kuze-sensei had held him back after class. 'He was concerned about who was teaching me? Pah! He just wanted to get away with messing with my head! The stingy bastard.' The boy felt a victorious smirk etch onto his face upon remembering the last two days.

The first day after meeting the old man, now his sensei, didn't seem unusual at all. People glared, various others tried to stomp his spirits (not that he'd let that happen!) and it was its usual lonesome day at the academy filled with boring lectures about shinobi history. The second day, however, had to have been the most enjoyable day of his life yet! Beating the day Old man Hokage stayed with him the whole day on his birthday, counting the present! (And that was saying a lot because the Hokage gave him his beloved goggles!)

He'd woken up earlier than usual, and went through his normal routine (ramen, shower, and orange jumpsuit) fully expecting it to be as horrible as the last, and dashed off towards the academy. Being early for once, he was able to choose a seat in the middle row, rather than in the back, and savored the frustrated look on his sensei's face when he realized talking in low tones wouldn't work today. Naruto was lucky too, the chunnin lectured the class about the uses of chakra and what situations the different types are used for. It was only an introduction, the man didn't go into detail about how to do these "feats of chakra", but it was way cool! He didn't know a shinobi could use chakra to increase their speed!

Then, at the end of class, Kuze-sensei had them do the usual sparring. He was paired with one of the most talented kids in class, as usual (Naruto secretly thought the teacher had two motives to this, for him to lose pathetically, and to boost the boys ego), Hyuuga Neji. He had never sparred against him before, so he didn't know what to expect. Right off the bat the boy dashed towards him, (with weird lines/bumps forming near his eyes) but unlike any of his usual matches, Naruto didn't stand his ground, he jumped back and did the seals for bushin no jutsu. Just as the boy was about to reach him, Naruto kicked the loose dirt into the air and did the last seal, "Bushin no Jutsu!"

Well, it was a good plan, too bad it didn't work. The dust would hide his movements as he escaped the dust cloud, while he had the illusionary clones move further into the cloud. Neji should have seen the two bushin, and thought one of them were the real Naruto and chased after them while he snuck up behind the boy to attack. Unfortunately, Naruto didn't understand the Byakugan's powers. Neji just jumped out of the cloud and attacked him while he believed the boy to be chasing after his bushins. Luckily for his ego, however, the dust cleared enough for the class to see his two (excellently!) crafted bushin before he was distracted enough to drop the illusion. Unfortunately, he was beaten up pretty bad; somehow those light punches hurt a lot!

Even still, the loss was still a victory in Naruto's eyes. He got to show his classmates he was better than them at bushin no jutsu and show his teacher up! A good day, indeed. It was only tarnished, slightly, by the "concerned" comments from Kuze-sensei when he replied that an old man fixed the mistake he made in the monkey seal. Besides that, though he had a few of his classmates ask him how he made two! Not that he told them (he really didn't know himself), but people were interested in who he was (or rather his jutsu, but it's the same thing, right?), and that could never be a bad thing.

He was broken out of his reverie by a cuff to the head. "You're late, brat."

Naruto just grinned and answered, "Kuze-sensei held me back, old man; he wanted to know who was teaching me and told me how "concerned" he was for my welfare. Said that taking advice from strangers was a bad thing! While I'd usually think that's good advice, he's just upset that someone is helping me."

Jiraiya was just staring at the boy in complete disbelief. He'd said that all in one breath! Realizing something, though, he hit Naruto on the head again. "I thought I told you to call me Jiraiya-sensei! Anyways, I looked up some on your academy records for the past two years and I noticed some discrepancies. Ever since you've received this "Kuze" fellow as your teacher your grades have been in the dead last position, comparing that to your former level in the high average, I get the impression this guy has some vendetta against you." Jiraiya paused for a moment, allowing the boy to digest the information. 'The fact that I know what that vendetta is, and most of the village shares it, doesn't make a tiny bit of difference...'

While the vocabulary was above Naruto's level, the point behind it all was clear. Naruto's face was filled with rage, and not a small level of hurt, at the implications. "You mean he was failing me on purpose?!"

His new sensei nodded his head, and dryly inserted a comment; "What? Not protecting 'Kuze-sensei' now?" The blonde's glare just made him chuckle. "Now, usually this type of change would be taken as a sign that the student wasn't fit for ninja training, the first year is mainly history after all, and while they could pursue further training, the student would be given less attention as a "hopeless case" sort of thing. He planned it out well, slowly you would fall further and further back behind your classmates and with that faulty seal I doubt you could have passed the genin graduation test."

Naruto was looking depressed at this, he'd held out on the hope that his sensei didn't totally hate him but this just cemented it into "fact". "But he'll fail me anyways, and then next years teacher will dislike me too for having the "dead last" label. How will I ever become a ninja now?"

"You'll become a great shinobi because you have one of the Legendary Sannins as a sensei! I, the Toad Summoner Jiraiya, will make you into the best ninja Konoha has to offer!" Jiraiya did a pose and observed the kid's reaction to realizing just who was taking him on as his student. He wasn't disappointed... well, maybe a little.

"Oh really! Wow!" His blue eyes brightened, the dullness of the depression fading from his eyes as he listened to the elderly shinobi's speech. "Um, Jiraiya-sensei? What's a sennin?"

The man fell out of his pose in shock. "It's not sennin, its sannin! And how can you not know what it is, didn't you listen in your history lessons?!"

"Yes... well, no, they're so boring!"

Jiraiya sweat dropped, 'Maybe this will be a bit harder than I thought... Still, the kid has spirit.' He let the thought drift from his mind as he remembered what he was doing before his student showed up and had his trusty "Icha, Icha" notebook at hand moments later.

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There had been about five minutes of wonderful silence in the clearing before Naruto became bored enough to the point of rambling. "Sooo... What'cha gonna teach me, sensei?" A reasonable question, too bad it has to be so annoying to Jiraiya's distracted mind. Still, it successfully brought the man back to the present and onto what he was supposed to be doing.

Setting down the notebook he took a closer look at his pupil. 'Hm. Short for his age, I know that isn't genetics, I'll have to ask what he eats.' The sennin blinked before smacking himself in the head, 'How could I have missed that outfit? It's an abomination! Right, I'll have to talk the kid into something that doesn't make him look like a circus freak. He seemed to have good stamina, judging from the way he kept expending that chakra... Okay, food, clothes, and chakra control.'

They were sitting across from each other, Jiraiya still observing his student, Naruto barely sitting still in anticipation. "First off, I need to understand your habits a bit better. What do you eat daily? How many hours of sleep do you get? Those sorts of things."

Naruto looked confused for a moment upon hearing the word "habit", but brightened at the other questions. Those questions are easy to answer! "Ramen! It's the best food in the world! And I go to sleep whenever I'm tired, I don't know how many hours..."

Jiraiya's face was an odd mixture of disbelief and anger, and his tone of voice had a little bit of both. "Ramen!? That's all you eat?" Upon Naruto's hesitant nod, Jiraiya was too angry to speak. 'What the hell was the boy's caretaker's thinking? Didn't anyone ever tell him that you need nutrients to survive? I'm surprised he's even grown as much as he had!'

Naruto, given time to get his composure back, stood up to the challenge of protecting the good name of ramen. "Hey! There's nothing wrong with ramen! It tastes really good!" He wasn't prepared for the cuff on the head.

"Damn it! Naruto, don't you know that ramen has little, if any, nutritional value? You can't survive on that stuff! I'm surprised you haven't become sick! How could your caretaker allow you to eat that stuff day after day?" This wasn't good, was even the boy's guardian against him? No one sane, or with good intentions, could allow a young boy to eat that day and night! Jiraiya felt a headache starting.

The orange clad boy sat back down in disbelief, but still determined to protect his favorite food. "I'm still alive, aren't I? And I have no caretaker! I take care of everything by myself." Naruto looked depressed upon hearing those words come from his mouth, it's not like he wanted to live alone, but no one besides old man Hokage and this old drunk seemed to like him. Who would want to take care of him? Besides! He did things better on his own. Of course, the fact that he didn't have any memories to compare that statement to probably allowed him to believe in it so much.

The toad summoner sighed. 'Why did I have to choose this week to feel charitable?' Glancing at the seven year old, he came to a decision. "Alright, brat, since you're my student now I might as well make it official. I'll speak with the Hokage, if he agrees you'll be my apprentice and fall under my guardianship. That way I can make sure you don't kill yourself." Pushing himself to his feet he started walking in the direction of the Hokage's tower. "Come on, brat, we might as well do this now."

While hopelessly confused, Naruto ran after the man and was soon filling his ears with a play by play of his fight with Neji.

-

"You can go in now, sir." The secretary at the desk answered, not even bothering to look up from her paperwork. While Jiraiya was amused by this, (they'd just walked in the door and are allowed access without her even looking up?) he was also aware of the security problem. 'Ah well, I'll mention it to Sarutobi-sensei.' he thought while motioning to Naruto to follow him into the Hokage's office.

It was rather late for team assignments, so he wasn't surprised when no one was waiting or in the office. The Third Hokage was resolutely filling out paperwork and looked rather happy that someone came to distract him, however, the smile just fell off his face when he noticed who entered. "What did he do now?"

Jiraiya sent an amused glance at Naruto and shook his head. "He didn't do anything... well, not as far as I'm aware. I'm here about a different issue." The aged Hokage waved his hand towards the seats in front of the desk and suddenly looked a lot more interested, even more so when he noticed Naruto was being quiet, and Jiraiya's thoughtful expression.

The toad sannin didn't bother with small talk, or censoring his response. Sandaime was well aware of the issue with the council. "Did you know this boy has no caretaker whatsoever? And that his teacher was deliberately failing him and purposely taught him the monkey seal wrong?" By the defeated expression on the Third's face, and later on the anger at hearing the exploits of the academy teacher, some of this wasn't new information.

"I was aware that Naruto didn't have a caretaker, I've been paying his bills and apartment rent, and making sure his check was getting to him, but I couldn't find anyone willing to take another orphaned soul into their home." The Hokage was rubbing his temples in frustration. "I didn't-" He would have continued, but he was interrupted by the boy they were discussing.

Naruto's eyes snapped up to the man at hearing who was sending those checks but the part about him paying his bills confused him. "What do you mean you were paying my bills? The apartment manager takes it out of my monthly check when it comes!" He was inwardly grateful to the man for providing for him, but the idea that someone else was slighting him wasn't something he wanted to believe at the moment.

The Hokage just looked furious at this piece of information and turned to look out upon Konoha without giving an answer. After a few minutes of silence, where one just looked at the two serious faced men in confusion while they contemplated how far the villagers went in their misguided attempt at revenge.

"Alright, Jiraiya, what did you come here for?" The Third Hokage had turned back to his two guests, incidentally turning his back towards the view of the village.

Naruto may be confused, but he hated being ignored. Standing up and pointing accusingly at the most powerful ninja in the village, the boy yelled; "Hey! Answer me! What do you mean you were paying my bills, old man!"

Jiraiya was starting to get a touch annoyed with the young blonde's loudness and answered in a less-than-tactful manner. "He meant what he said, brat. Someone was ripping you off." He ignored the disapproving look his old sensei gave him and answered his question. "I want to make Naruto my apprentice. There's no way I'm going to allow some creep to ruin the makings of a good shinobi. Besides I need a student to pass my skills onto, he seems good as any."

The Hokage raised his palm in a quieting motion. "That's enough Jiraiya. It seems like a good plan, I'll draw up the papers. Of course, this is only if Naruto agrees and you are planning to stay in Konoha for the most part."

"Yeah, I'll be sticking around." Both men turned to Naruto in search of an answer.

Naruto, while the two were ironing out the details was looking at the floor with a mix of emotions. 'So all this time I've been paying that whole amount for nothing? I barely had enough to eat with what he always left me with... Grr... Why do people do this? What did I ever do to them?' He glanced up when the he heard the Hokage agree to make him the old drunk's apprentice. 'And what is this apprenticeship stuff about? He said something about being my guardian to make sure I don't kill myself, but that doesn't mean he'll be nice or anything.' He sighed. 'Ah well, at least I'll learn some cool jutsus! And old man Hokage doesn't think it's a bad idea...'

"Naruto? Do you want to become Jiraiya's apprentice?" The Hokage asked the orange clad boy.

After a moments hesitation Naruto nodded.

"Alright, tomorrow it will be official. I hope you know what trouble you're going to put me through with the council once they hear this bit of info, Jiraiya. You won't have to listen to their "outrage" for hours on end." Jiraiya didn't look the slightest bit sympathetic, but instead amused. "Naruto, you are still going to attend the academy, but your teachers will be aware of your apprenticeship. They'll pay less attention to you now because you have another teacher, but your tests and practical examinations have to be observed by your master, or in this case, Jiraiya. He'll alert me to any unfair scores and keep this teacher from failing you without cause."

Naruto's bright grin was back with a vengeance. He couldn't wait until Kuze-sensei and his classmates heard about this! "Right!" He glanced back and forth between the two before giving the Hokage a hug and whispering, "Thank you."

The Third just chuckled and patted him on the head. "Now off with you! I have to complete my work."

The Toad Sannin and his student were almost out the door, discussing something, when he heard Naruto yell, "What?" Startled, he looked up only to see Naruto stare incredulously at Jiraiya. "What do you mean by 'get packing'? I'm not moving anywhere!"

Laughing, he just shook his head. 'I don't think either of them have a clue as to what they're getting into. Ah well, it'll sure be amusing to watch!'

Jiraiya's eye twitched, before he yelled back, "Of course you are! Do you think I'm going to leave my new student alone to destroy his body with ramen and wear colors that scream 'Kill me or I'll continue to hurt your eyes'? And this way I can make sure you are training the way I tell you to!"

Naruto's face was red with anger. "There's nothing wrong with ramen! And you wouldn't know fashion if it came back and hit you in the face, you old drunk! How do I know you're not some creepy old guy who preys on little kids?"

The "Old drunk's" eye just twitched before letting out a frustrated yell. "Get over here, you little brat!" Needless to say, Naruto didn't, and the Hokage office was empty of all but an amused old man.

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**End Chapter**  
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Authors Notes: Chapters will rarely reach over 4k words a chapter, unless I hadn't covered everything I needed to in the length. Sorry if any of you think this is short. I think it's an improvement in the length of any of my other work. I'm not exactly impressed on how reads, after looking it over, but I'll work with it, and yeah, I have no idea when the next chapter will be posted, I barely had time to do this. It's almost done though! Probably have to wait until after all my graduation stuff is over with.

Yeah, disclaimer is in the first chapter. Not bothering with that every time.

Thanks for reading.

- Rain


	3. Watch Where You Step

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Not Quite  
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**Chapter Two:**_ Watch where you step_

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"Alright, brat, which one is your apartment?" Jiraiya had the boy tucked under his arm, unable to get away. He didn't want to go through that again, it had taken half an hour to catch him! If the boy transferred that wit and stamina into his ninja training and added stealth to it he doubted even the most experienced Chunin could find him. It was quite an achievement for a seven year-old. Dropping the kid onto the worn, wooden steps he followed the boy to his apartment in thought.

'Well, I'm stuck between anticipation from wanting to teach again, and annoyance at having to put up with his personality. Ugh, are all children like this? No, there would be a lot more 'Child abandonment' cases if that were true.' Shaking his head at his thoughts he'd noticed Naruto had stopped. Finally, they were there! The bold numbers 310 were etched into the door, but he didn't have time to observe more than that, however, as the door opened quicker than he suspected. 'What? It wasn't locked?' The thought was pushed from his mind when he took in the contents of the small place.

"It's clean?" He muttered in bafflement. The orange clad boy sent him a dirty look and sent about packing up his things. Jiraiya had to go through a lot of methods of persuasion to get the boy to listen to him. Finally he ended up yelling out something most untactful, and while it convinced Naruto to come with him, it didn't exactly make the boy like him all that much.

_"Listen! There's no reason a seven year-old should live alone! It's not right, and just because all those damn fools in the village won't take you in doesn't mean I'm going to allow my student to grow up to be an undisciplined brat!" Jiraiya's face was red with anger, but it was only after the words left his mouth that he realized he was adding salt to fresh wounds._

_Naruto didn't argue, but his playful manner disappeared. The rest of the walk to the apartment complex Naruto lived in was spent in tense silence, with Naruto glaring at the ground from under his right arm._

"Hey, sensei, I've got all my stuff. The rest came with the apartment." Naruto set down two medium sized boxes and walked back over and plucked a duffle bag off his bed.

Jiraiya just nodded, as nothing could surprise him at this point. "That's it? What's in the boxes?"

Naruto shrugged, "Dishes and such, clothes, and books. The second one is my ninja gear, mostly."

"Alright, first training exercise! Carry your possessions to my house. I'd suggest you get a good hold of them, because it's going to be a long walk!" Jiraiya ignored his student's stare of disbelief and went to leave. He supposed he earned the look, those two boxes probably weighed quite a bit for a grown man (excluding competent shinobi) with all that equipment, and dropping it would be a bad idea with the dishes. Still, it was a good training exercise. While his student was spacing out he would take the opportunity to leave. "I'm going to talk to the apartment manager and tell him you're moving. Make sure to clean out the refrigerator too!"

Jiraiya vaguely wondered if he wasn't becoming sadistic before shaking his head. 'Nah.'

About ten minutes later, after futilely searching two wrong floors, he found the manager/owner's apartment where he probably should have expected it; on the ground floor, and in the nicest looking room. After knocking, and hearing a vague "Come in" from inside, he entered.

-

Naruto had hoped to leave all his leftover food (half of it had already expired) in the fridge as a "going away present" for the apartment manager that was ripping him off. Of course, it was only a few containers of milk and a few containers of ramen that he had half-finished but not willing to throw away, but it was a small bit of revenge anyway. As he bagged up the garbage and whatever remaining discarded items that belonged there he set the bag outside the door in a huff, clearly angry.

'What right does that old drunk have to come here and tell me how to run my life? I thought a teacher was just supposed to teach!' He looked around at his small apartment in search of anything he might have missed. He didn't find anything. 'Still... I don't suppose having someone look out for me for once would be such a bad thing.'

Catching sight of the descending sun from the window he'd realized this all happened in one day. One day, and everything that had made up his life for the past years was being changed. When he'd first understood what this apprenticeship entailed he'd been happy, but surprised. Someone to care for him? It had been his dream for years now! For any sort of acknowledgment other than the Hokage's. And then he had opened his mouth before he thought, as usual and fled.

It was just like all those times when people chased him for pranks, or something was being blamed on him, and he'd enjoyed the chase. That is, until his new sensei had caught up to him and pinned him with one arm while he asked for directions. He'd made another comment about why he had to move when the sannin seemed to snap. Contrary to his sensei's belief, he wasn't angry at him. There's no point in being angry about something that's true, right? Naruto just didn't like how his life had shaped up so far, and directed that anger at his academy teacher and everyone else that had deliberately put him down.

He just wanted to understand why, from what he could tell there was some situation surrounding him that he was never to know about, it just wasn't right. If he knew why he was hated maybe he could try to dissuade their beliefs? Or be able to put the villages hate behind him, he couldn't ignore their glares and whispers when all he wanted to do was hear more of them to have the chance to understand! He was too curious for his own good. With a pout, Naruto straightened up the last of his things before a maniacal grin took over his face.

Well, if he wasn't allowed to leave the spoils of his food as a reminder of his existence, why not leave a nice "present" behind?

Ten minutes later he had lightened the second box considerably, but for a good cause, and cautiously closed the door. With his possessions piled near his feet, Naruto placed himself on the railing with a wide grin. 'It'll be my greatest prank ever!' Fortunately, his patience wasn't tested very long as his sensei arrived back from the manager's office. With one look at the boys face, and the suspiciously closed door, the man knew he did something but wasn't up to caring about that filth of a man he left downstairs.

"Come on brat, I want to make it home before it becomes dark. That means were running!" Before leaving, though, Jiraiya tossed the boy a wad of money. "From that generous soul downstairs for 'mistakenly' charging you double. Now grab those boxes and follow me."

Naruto's grin dropped as he took notice of the man's words. 'Run?!' With a sigh he lifted the bulky and heavy boxes, with his duffle bag strapped to his back and shuffled forward and soon forced to run to keep up. Still, the grin didn't stray from his face for long, 'I'll never be able to beat that prank, it's a masterpiece!'

-

An hour after Uzumaki Naruto ran after his sensei the apartment manager limped up the stairs cursing the "demon brat" quite fiercely. He obviously blamed the boy for the numerous bruises he'd acquired. Still, it was a joyous smile that overtook his face when he realized that the boy would finally be gone. Maybe he could even attract some people wanting to move in, since the boy was obviously bad for business.

Since he had never given the demon brat a key, for various vengeful reasons, he opened the door with a smug expression. A smug expression that faded once he stepped into what he could only call hell. Not that he had much time to ponder its similarities because soon after he tripped over a wire, which activated various unpleasant things, which activated more unpleasant things. The end result was a beaten man with bruises over his previously given bruises covered with various smelling substances and painted a familiar orange color.

The last image the man saw before passing out was a crude drawn like-ness of Naruto's grinning face with the message, "I hope you like my goodbye present!" written beside it. He wouldn't be found for another day when a resident was curious enough to brave the awful stench.

-

It had been two day since Naruto had been taken in by Jiraiya. It had been decided that he wouldn't attend the academy for two weeks for the sake of adjusting to each other and filling the gaps the academy teacher had purposely left open in his knowledge. Neither was happy with the idea, but it was the Hokage's suggestion, and while Naruto would have gone anyway, Jiraiya had, after some persuasion, agreed it was a decent idea.

For the young boy of seven, it seemed like some of the worst days of his life. The house was decently sized, far away from the main village, and he was given a nice room and allowed to go just about anywhere but…the old ninja didn't seem to take into appreciation any of the things he enjoyed! There wasn't allowed time for him to plot his pranks, and his supplies went "mysteriously missing" after his first day staying there. Nothing he said could get the old man to slip up and admit that he took them. Second of all, he forced Naruto to eat vegetables and other nasty things that weren't ramen. If he didn't eat them, Jiraiya wouldn't train him for the day, and he decided not learning cool jutsu and ninja tricks weren't worth it.

The biggest horror of his life, however, was that he had to wear this completely boring outfit. Black and grey was the extent of its colorfulness, and it was what the boy fought the most over. It offered him a sort of anonymity that he didn't appreciate when he walked the streets; everyone ignored him and took no notice to him. He just seemed like another kid to them. To Naruto, this like a hammer to his life's work, while some would think that anonymity was better than being glared and whispered about, he had always valued that over being dismissed completely as if he didn't exist.

After several long arguments, and witnessing the boy's rage when his previous outfit was destroyed when he refused to wear the other, Jiraiya finally got the reason the boy was so vengeful about the lack of color.

"If I wear bright colors, no one will be able to ignore me! With this thing they won't even notice I exist!" Naruto yelled back at the man, face red with eyes almost shut in frustration. If he hadn't already been defeated by this man numerous times over these arguments he would have charged at him and tried to beat sense into him, but as it were it was better just to yell at him. The man hadn't been able to shut him up yet, at least, so that way of getting his point across was still open.

Jiraiya looked surprised for a moment, before hitting the boy on the head. "You fool, that's the whole point of a ninja. Not being noticed! If you want to be flashy, go be a samurai." The words seemed to have made an impression on the boy, enough that he was listening at least. Good. "A ninja is to stay hidden until he is in the best position to make a move! If those villagers don't appreciate you, grow stronger under their noses, gain allies and friends in the background, and then when you have a foolproof chance to make your move, you take it! They wouldn't be able to say a word otherwise if you had people backing you up, and the power to intimidate the few that would go against that." Jiraiya gave the boy one more glance, and then picked up his notebook and left the boy to think.

For several minutes the boy sat frozen, thinking over the words his sensei had told him. Naruto was stricken, had he doing this wrong the whole time? The old mans words made sense, in a strange way. He still loved orange, but he understood the art of being unnoticed, he had to if he was ever to have accomplished the pranks he had. It wasn't his strong point to sit and brood for too long, however, so he decided to go and train the kata the man had taught him earlier in the day.

It wasn't for several more hours that he approached the man, and swallowed his pride to say the words, "I think you're right." Naruto frowned at the lack of attention he was getting, and frustration at being ignored led him to spurt out one of his ideas from earlier. "But I think I could just as easily accomplish that while dressing in orange!" He practically yelled, and even without that Jiraiya would have taken notice to the words.

"Really, how so?" The man injected with a bored voice, still scribbling away on the paper. He was intrigued at how the boy planned to accomplish that, however.

"If I dress in orange, they are going to notice me, but they won't think I'm anything serious. I know I can hide and keep unnoticed if I try when wearing it, how do you think I was able to prank your doorway?" The boy grinned, enjoying being able to find a way out of wearing the ugly clothing. "And enemies will underestimate me just as much! They won't expect a serious ninja to dress in bright attention drawing colors, so they'd choose another target." Nodding, Naruto took little notice of the man now, plotting how he would take people down by taking advantage of their dismissal of him. It felt like the perfect prank!

Jiraiya on the other hand, was impressed. Most children and teenagers were obsessed with looking cool and better for their peers. While this was sort of the case with Naruto, as only he would think wearing bright orange was cool, he also was in the position to take advantage of the situation. Few people appreciated being underestimated, but it was easily one of a ninja's greatest tools. The boy didn't need to hold back in the academy, as hardly anyone but parents and the villagers took those grades seriously… He would just have to keep the bit about being trained by a Sannin quiet.

Feeling unusually proud of the brat, Jiraiya felt like treating the boy a bit. "Alright brat, lets go into the village before it gets late." He frowned a bit, wondering how the boy avoided whiplash from snapping his head up so quickly, but dismissed the thought quickly enough. "We have to get you a more suitable outfit than your last one, and perhaps we'll have time to get some dinner at Ichikairu's."

It took them a while to sort out the specifics of the outfit. Jiraiya wanted to get something durable and functional to train in, but it would be difficult to find something like that in the colors the boy appreciated. It had to be commissioned, then, and getting that done was an effort in itself. He still didn't understand the idiotic hatred these people had for him, but it was no matter, once he introduced himself fully they were helpful soon enough. Perhaps it didn't matter so much if he was acknowledged as a sannin's apprentice, it would give the boy some respect, but he himself had been becoming underestimated in recent years… it was doubtful that too many would be impressed about it.

"The outfits will be done by tomorrow, Jiraiya-sama." The man glanced nervously towards the door, and Jiraiya took his queue. The man was obviously afraid to be seeing doing business with anyone associated with the boy, no matter who it was. 'Ah well, I'm sure I can make that attitude change some. Leaving the brat alone in my house seems like a death wish, so they are going to have to get used to it.' He grinned and allowed Naruto to dash ahead on the way to the ramen shop. "Maybe this won't be so bad, after all."

Of course, that was proven wrong a hundred times over during the next week and a half. He had to commend the boy on his hiding skills while wearing that color, but other than that it had been unpleasant. Somehow the boy managed to replenish his pranks, and Jiraiya decided that he might as well teach the boy how to make his skill with them practical towards the ninja trade. Soon enough, his property was a dangerous place to trespass unwary.

The boy took making traps as if he'd never done anything else in his life, 'Which,' the man mused, 'was true in a way.' Wire became short in supply, and the boy seemed to have a knack with Gen-jutsu that he'd never noticed before. Some of those traps had an almost unnoticeable trace of it, helping the almost flawless ground seems even more so. It seemed like an unconscious effort, as the boy didn't seem to have the control to do even that small amount knowingly, but it wasn't a completely uncommon thing. Some superficial genin with talent had been noticed to subconsciously cover up some mark or another that they were obsessed about.

Other than getting the boy's taijutsu up to a decent level for an academy student, and covering the handsigns and weapons throwing, the biggest thing they would have to tackle would be chakra control. That could wait, however, until after the boy resumed the academy. Now it was just trying to get the boy to listen to his lectures about important things he needed to know about ninja life and how it was run, and training the basics.

Jiraiya was almost as excited as Naruto, albeit for different reasons, to see the end of that two week period.

-

**End Chapter**

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Note: Yeah, this took a while. Sorry. Wasn't in much of a mood for fanfic, and then when that returned it took a while for it to extend to Naruto. Hope it's decent enough, I wrote one part about a year ago, and another just today so… not sure if it'll flow together well. Ah well. Next chapter will be posted soon, I hope. It depends on my internet status. 3k words is decent, though, right? It's usually the extent of where I'm sick of writing for the night, so I suppose anymore probably won't happen as smoothly. Nevertheless, I'll try if it people like the idea of a 5k better. Thank you for all the reviews so far.

- Rai


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